He said: "We have Sacha Baron Cohen, which will probably be a shock to a
lot of people, but he's been talking with us for a long time."

The role marks a break for Baron Cohen, who has built a career playing
outrageously offensive characters of his own creation in spoof
documentaries.

The Cambridge-educated performer found international fame with his 2003 film Ali
G Indahouse, in which he played the oafish, rap-obsessed caricature of
urban youth Ali G

His subsequent films Borat, about a witless Kazakh visitor to the US,
and Bruno, in which he pretended to be gay Austrian fashion presenter
– were huge Box Office successes on both sides of the Atlantic.

But both films attracted controversy, amid claims that they stereotyped
minorities and humiliated members of public.

The Queen film has yet to be given a title but production is due to commence
next year. The screenplay is being written by Peter Morgan, who has
previously worked on Frost/Nixon.

A spokesman for GK Films, which is co-producing the movie, said: "Freddie
Mercury was an awe-inspiring performer so with Sacha in the starring role,
coupled with Peter's screenplay and the support of Queen, we have the
perfect combination to tell the real story behind their success."